Best Software for compressing Windows Media Player Files for use in IPad

[kieves1]

Hi All

I am getting an IPad next week and want to take some TV series with me on holiday to watch.
They are currently .AVI files.
Is there any good program that i can use to compress them as they are 350mb each or a good program to view them through.

Any help will be appreciated.
1st Ipad so a bit clueless lol

 

[OhEsEcks]

http://handbrake.fr

 

[lamboman]

If you're wanting to keep these for use in an iTunes library, Handbrake. Otherwise, you could use something like VLC to play the files back; simply drag and drop in iTunes (iOS device in sidebar > Apps tab on the top > scroll down to File Sharing).